Support for incandescent mantles.



UNITED @TATEd PATENT @FCE,

ROBERT RODER, 0E MISHAWAKA, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR T0 VICTOR E. FREEMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SUPPORT FOR INCANDESGENT MANTLES.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, RoBERT Roman, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Mishawaka, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Supports -for Incandescent Mantles; and I do hereby V vention and the said invention is fully disclosed in the following description and claims.

Referring to the said drawing, Figure 1 represents a mantle supporting device embodying my invention having applied thereto a soft mantle, the textile fabric where of has not been burned out. Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same parts and the same mantle after the burning out operation. Fig. 3 is a detail view partly in section of the mantle supporting rod and socket, and Fig. l is a horizontal sectional view of the same.

The mantles for incandescent burners are obtained by saturating the textile fabric with a solution of certain chemical salts and drying the same, after which the saturated textile fabric is burned out by a flame, leaving the oxidized salts and ash in the form of the textile fabric. Obviously this ash is extremely fragile and in order to protect the same in handling, it is customary to apply thereto a coating of suitable material, as collodion which permits the mantle to be handled and shipped and which is burned off at the first use of the mantle in connection with a burner. It has been proposed to supply to the trade the chemically treated mantles before they have been subjected to the burning out process, as obviously they can be handled without danger of injury both in shipment and sale and in the actual application to the burner. In such case the burning out operation is performed originally after the mantle has been applied to the burner on which it is to be used. Such saturated but not burned mantles are known in the trade as soft mantles to distin- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 13, 1911.

Patented June a, 1912. Serial No. 649,177.

guish them from the ordinary kind of mantles which have been burned out and treated with a protecting coating.

It has not been possible heretofore as far as I am aware to supply commercially soft mantles of the kind described for use with the ordinary or non-inverted incandescent burners. These burners require a mantle of considerable height and the shrinkage of the mantle during the burning out process taken in connection with the fact that such mantles are suspended from their upper ends, causes the mantles to draw up above the required position with respect to the burner and render them liable to be broken and also destroying the adjustmentof the mantle with respect to the flame, which adjustment cannot afterward be perfected under ordinary circumstances on account of the liability of breakage.

My invention has for its object to provide a support for upright incandescent burners especially adapted to receive soft mantles which support is provided with means for automatically readjusting the mantle after it has been burned out so as to facilitate the commercial use of these mantles in the soft or unburned condition.

In the embodiment of my invention herein illustrated and which I have selected for the purpose of illustrating the invention, 1 represents the cap or upper portion of an ordinary incandescent gas or vapor burner provided with the usual wire gauze 2 and with a central longitudinally disposed socket or tube 3 extending through the wire gauze 2 and open at its upper end. In the present instance the tube 3 extends through a cen tral aperture in the wire gauze 2 and is held in place by suitable washers above and below the gauze but it may be secured in any other desired manner.

4 represents the mantle supporting rod which is adapted to be inserted in the tube or socket 3 in such a manner as to allow a certain amount of space within the socket between the walls of the socket and the exterior of the rod. This may be accomplished by employing a rod which is slightly smaller in diameter than the socket, or it may be accomplished by making the socket or rod of polygonal, fluted or corrugated shape in cross section and in Figs. 3 and 4 I have shown a round or cylindrical socket 3 in which is fitted a rod 4 square in cross section, thus allowing the rod to fit easily with a guiding fitin the socket and yet provide the additional space between the socket and the exterior of the rod.

The rod 4: is normally secured rigidly in the upper portion of the socket 3 a considerable distance above the bottom thereof, as shown in Fig. 1 by means of a suitable fusible material, that is to say a material which will be liquefied by the heat of the burner and the specific gravity of which is such that the rod may readily sink through the same in case the socket is entirely filled with such fusible material. In some cases, however, fusible material may not be made to fill the socket but merely placed in the upper end of the same around the portion of the rod which extends into the socket.

5 represents a soft or unburned man tle which in this instance is provided with a loop or support 6 of asbestos or other suitable material engaging the top of the rod 4, which is provided with a notch or other suitable means for preventing the accidental disengagement of the mantle therefrom. The parts are shown in Fig. 1 ready for the burning out of the mantle and the line mw indicates the position which the lower edge of the mantle will occupy due to the shrinkage in burning out.

When the gas or vapor is admitted to the burner, the pressure thereof will tend to distend the mantle so as to give it the desired shape and on ignition the textile fabric will burn out and the chemical salts become oxidized, thereby producing the true incandescent mantle, during which time the mantle will shrink as before stated. The heat of the burner will soften the fusible material which is indicated at 7 thus permitting the weight of the rod and mantle to carry the rod downward until it rests upon the bottom or closed end of the tube or socket 3, as shown in Fig. 2, in which the burned out mantle is represented by 5, thus re-adjusting the mantle to the burner in its shrunk or burned out condition. I prefer to employ wax as the fusible material and to provide a sufiicient quantity thereof to fill the socket 3, so that the liquid wax in the socket 3 during the burning out process will act as a dash pot and enable the rod to slide slowly and gradually to the bottom of the socket without jarring the mantle. Any excess of wax will be caused to overflow and will be immediately volatilizedand consumed by the flame. In case a fusible metallic substance like soft solder is employed, a suflicient quantity only to temporarily secure the rod in its raised position, will be preferably employed, as the friction of the rod against the melted solder would be sufficient to prevent the rod from falling with too great abruptness.

that I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A mantle supporting device, comprising a mantle supporting rod, a supporting device for said rod having a guiding engagement with the lower end of the rod, fusible material for securingthe rod in a fixed relation with said support, and a stop 7 for limiting the downward movement of said rod, when released by the melting of said fusible material.

2. A mantle supporting device, comprising a mantle supporting rod, a supporting socket for said rod closed at its lower end and having a guiding engagement with said rod, space being provided between the socket and rod, a fusible material located in the space between the socket and rod and normally holding said rod in a position above the bottom of the socket.

3. A mantle supporting device, comprising a mantle supporting rod, a supporting socket for said rod closed at its lower end and having a guiding engagement with said and socket being of such cross section as to fit each other with a guiding engagement, and to provide space between them, and a fusible material in said socket for holding said rod in position above the bottom of the socket.

5. Amantle supporting device comprising a burner cap provided with a central vertical cylindrical socket, a mantle supporting rod having its lower end provided with longitudinally disposed ridges engaging the wall of the socket and providing between said ridges, spaces between the rod and the wall of the socket and a fusible material in said socket for holding the rod in position above the bottom of the socket.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT RODER. Witnesses:

ERNEST SUMNER, V. E. FREEMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

